Plot Synopsis: Aboard a runabout Picard, Data, La Forge, and Troi encounter time distortions; they also discover the Enterprise, frozen in time while in battle with a Romulan warbird – and seconds away from destruction.
Plot A and B Analysis: The teaser gives us two points of entry: on board the Enterprise, Riker, after recovering from a Spot attack, and the crew of the ship cautiously go to investigate a Romulan distress call. On board a runabout (a DS9 invention), Picard, Data, Geordi and Deanna are talking about their experiences at a conference when suddenly everyone freezes except Troi. Plot A is about the “Timescape”, there is no plot B. Things take off quickly: next Troi is the one who’s frozen, the runabout spins out of control as a nacelle is suddenly drained of fuel, then Picard’s hand ages so fast his fingernails are like talons. We learn there are ‘temporal distortions’, which mean there are pockets of space where time is very fast or very slow. The runabout finally catches up to the Enterprise for the pièce de résistance: our ship and a Romulan warbird locked in combat, frozen in time mid-battle. Data and Geordi modify some armbands that let them transport to the ship without being stuck in time, and they find a puzzle: a Romulan invasion force on the ship, Beverly has been hit by a Romulan disruptor, Worf is in the transporter room beaming wounded Romulans on board, and a warp core breach is in progress. The majority of the episode is following the crew unraveling the mystery bit by bit, and it’s thoroughly enjoyable to watch. The last several minutes is the attempt to set everything right, and is also great to watch. This tight and clever script is fascinating from beginning to end.
Favorite Scenes: There is a subtle joke in the teaser when Deanna is talking about a guy at the conference wanting to lure her into ’empirical research’ for inter-species mating. When Data asks if she took him up on the offer and she says no, he seems surprised: “I thought it was a topic you were interested in.” Riker would agree, heh! This is one of those episodes where practically the entire 44 minutes is a favorite scene. Picard bringing his hand up to see his claw is a great moment, the first minutes where we see what what looks like a Romulan attack on the Enterprise bridge is wonderful, Picard making a smiley face on the warp core breach, as well as what looks like Beverly’s imminent death at the hands of a Romulan; it’s all terrific and riveting stuff.
Use of Cast/Characters: Picard, Data, Geordi and Troi are the main players, which is unusual. Typically episodes involve either the ensemble cast or primarily revolve around one principal cast member. In this one there are four main characters who have to solve the mystery, and for the most part they are all well-used. There is even some unexpected character development in Data, as he turns off his internal chronometer for the first time at the end of the episode. Riker, Worf and Beverly are only active in the teaser, they are literally frozen in time for most of the episode. Michael Bofshever and Patricia Tallman play the male and female aliens respectively, and only have a few lines. Patricia was last seen in Starship Mine and previously on Power Play. What’s odd is Michael is credited as a guest star, however Tallman, who has almost as many lines, get no credit whatsoever.
Blu Ray Version: Crystal clarity is the standard now, and it’s never looked better. I’m unaware if anything significant was changed.
Nitpicks: I suppose if I were Riker I would go to yellow and not red alert when they are responding to the Romulan distress call, but that’s just me. We see Data almost dozing off to Picard emulating one of the speakers at the conference. It’s funny, but given who and what Data is, also impossible. It seems somewhat unlikely that Troi would know the inner workings of a Romulan engine core, even if she did spend several days on a Romulan ship. Still, it could be argued she did some research to learn as much as she could while she was there. I don’t have a big problem with it.
Overall Impression: This is quite simply an outstanding episode in all respects. Finally, after several episodes dipping down into mediocrity we get something like this! The brilliance of this episode is not just in the creative use of time, which is fascinating in itself, but in how our expectations are used against us and what we think is happening–a Romulan ambush–is exactly the opposite. And it makes perfect sense. This is a smart enough script that we are rarely ahead of the characters, and is more proof that TNG is one of the only series that can do time-based episodes right. I’m happy to rate this episode a full 5 out of 5 stars.
Behind the Scenes/Trivia: Timescape is full of references to prior episodes. At 8:30 Troi taps her head below the ear. This is a subtle reference to ‘plexing’, which she taught Barclay in Realm of Fear. I love little touches like that. Picard’s reference to a subspace force field previously being used on Devidia II has reference to the Time’s Arrow two-parter. Beverly’s reference to “Worf’s calisthenic program” is a reference all the way back to Where Silence Has Lease. Picard’s later reference to Troi spending several days on a Romulan ship is, of course a reference to Face of the Enemy. Marina tells a funny story about her role in Timescape, in this video. Start watching at 6:45. I don’t really have as much of a problem with it as she seems to.
Brannon Braga wrote this episode, and he also wrote the excellent Cause and Effect. According to him, “This is ‘Cause and Effect’ times ten. Time is not only looping, it’s moving backwards, accelerating and stopping and moving backwards… I wanted to do this as ‘man against nature,’ or ‘man against time’. What The Abyss was to deep-sea diving, this would be to ‘deep-time diving’.” The names of two of the conference speakers are in-jokes – Wagner was named after a one-time date of Braga, while Vassbinder was named after one of his high school teachers. The director of this episode was Adam Nimoy, Leonard Nimoy’s son, and he does a great job. Finally, this isn’t the first time we see those emergency transporter armbands. The first time was in the iconic Best of Both Worlds, Part II.
Missable/Unmissable? Finally, an unmissable episode! Unfortunately the next one is not.